Mass protests demand political change in Serbia

Week after week, the Serbian capital is flooded with demonstrators. Among the sea of people you see homemade signs and little buttons on clothing depicting vultures and hyenas.

Since early May, tens of thousands of people are hitting the streets of Belgrade protesting against the government and President Alexandar Vučić. These are the biggest public demonstrations in the country since the fall of Slobodan Milošević.

The protests are against an atmosphere of violence and fear, against manipulated media, against corruption. But why is the symbol of the uprising animal buttons on T-shirts and jackets? In our latest episode, Euronews Witness went to Belgrade to find out.

The weekly mass protests were triggered by a school-shooting in Belgrade and, the day after, a second shooting in a village. 18 people died. But by now the anger is directed against the ruling power. Tara, a student, prepares her protest placard: “We want the rule of the law instead of the rule of one person.”

President Vučić accuses the opposition to instrumentalize the mourning and called protesters “vultures” and “hyenas”. Since then, they wear animal buttons. “We are demonstrating, because of the corruption, the criminality and the malfunction of institutions in our country”, one of the protesters tells Euronews.

People demand the president to step down and an investigation into alleged links between politics and organised crime. Vučić suggested snap elections, but opposition parties are against this idea. 

One of the leading opposition politicians, Srđan Milivojević, member of Parliament for the Democratic Party, explains why: 

“We have numerous proofs that the highest State authorities are linked to organized crime. Criminal groups, since 2013, show up in